This invention relates generally to the art of conveying and more particularly to an apparatus for conveying a plurality of articles into a case for shipment.
Many and varied apparatus have existed within the prior art for conveying articles for ultimate packing into larger containers or cases for shipment or storage and sometimes even for shipment and display. The food distribution industry is particularly dependant upon the use of cases of individual articles for ultimate sale to the consumer through retailers or vending machines.
While many types of mechanical devices have been utilized by the food distribution industry, the handling and packing of fragile irregularly shaped articles has remained, to a large extent, a manual effort. Examples of such fragile and irregularly shaped articles include snack foods particularly those packed in flexible containers such as potato chips and other chip-type articles.
Even with regularly shaped articles, such as cigarette cartons which are packed into cases in rows, the packing effort is subject to a large degree of manual handling when such items are packed into tight-fitting cases.
Various apparatus have existed, however, which lend themselves to conveying and case packing, examples of which are given below.
U.S. Pat. No. 708,218 describes an apparatus for packing oil cakes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,735,561 describes an apparatus for packing single articles one at a time into a carton. U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,230 describes an apparatus for compacting garbage and placing into a container.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,058 describes an apparatus for inserting articles into a container while interleaving paper between layers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,618,285 describes an apparatus for filling boxes with discreet articles such as fruit. U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,615 describes an apparatus for forming cartons about a plurality of articles. U.S. Pat. No. 2,956,381 describes an automatic packing apparatus for orienting and packing fragile articles within a shipping container.
None of the above prior art, however, overcomes the shortcomings which exist with regard to the case packing of a plurality of articles, particularly fragile articles which are irregularly shaped.